


want you

by Cookiemonster2000



Series: greeling loves one (1) badass ninja chick [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, F/M, Greed is one thirsty mofo, Greed just wants everybody to be as honest as he is, Jealousy, Lan Fan is trying her best, Ling isn't doing a great job of protecting what's his guys, Mild Angst, Overprotective Ling, Unresolved Sexual Tension, and Lanfan will never admit that, kind of a character study I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 15:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20490794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cookiemonster2000/pseuds/Cookiemonster2000
Summary: Greed is interested in Lanfan. Ling protests, but since when did the homunculus listen to his host?





	want you

**Author's Note:**

> i'm starting to think i'm just a glutton for punishment. the "forbidden" ships are the ones i obsess over.
> 
> we are roy mustang & riza hawkeye fans first, greedling fans second, and human beings third everyone. anyway i wrote this at 2am and i barely edited it, so the dialogue kinda drags on. my apologies. hope you enjoy :D

It's frustrating.

He knows, can  _ tell  _ that she’s behind him, following him at a distance. After seeing her in action, he’s more than a little interested in another conversation--or something  _ more  _ to get his mind off the inevitable fight that’s coming. There isn’t much time left before the Promised Day.

But Lanfan is keeping herself concealed, and the prince is being very selfish about his sixth chi sense, or whatever the hell it is. So Greed can only get little breaths of awareness, just enough for him to be sure she’s there but not enough for him to tell where exactly she is.

But he  _ wants  _ to know. So he will.

  
  


After a moment of consideration, Greed whistles, as if he was calling a dog. Ling, in the deepest recesses of his mind, catches on to his attempt and starts to throw a fit.

_ She’s my aide, not your slave!  _ he shouts indignantly.

“Relax, kid, I just wanna see what she’ll do,” he says out loud. Sure enough, he can sense the girl a bit closer. . . and her aura is slightly pensive. Probably wasn’t sure if his signal was meant for her or not. He’ll clear it up for her.

“Hey, I know you’re up there, so come down already. I just wanna talk.”

Ling crosses his arms.  _ She doesn’t have to obey you. _

_ Will you can it already? _ Greed replies, not even slightly ruffled.  _ I’m trying to talk to the lady here. _

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” he reassures, and then she’s there.

He bites back a curse--how is she so  _ fast _ ?--and tries to play it off by leaning against a nearby tree. Before he can speak, her voice, clear and strong, rings out.

“You could not hurt me if you tried.”

“Sure I could. Don’t you know what I am?”

A pause. “You stink.”

“Not very nice,” he says, wrinkling his nose. “Aren’t you insulting your own master?”

She stares at him through her mask, eyes slits. 

“Your chi.” she says in explanation, then falls silent again. 

He thinks he can see her eyes calculating, and a snatch of Ling’s instincts and his eyes tell him she’s working herself up to say something. This body recognizes it well, and a rise of interest swells in his gut before Greed is even aware of it.

This girl doesn’t speak her mind often, so apparently Ling pays  _ very  _ close attention when she does.

This might be helpful.

Greed grins invitingly. “You’ve got something to say, sweetheart, so say it.”

She is surprised for a split second, before her eyes harden to resolution. 

“Can. . .” 

But to his disappointment, Lanfan immediately bites her tongue, clamping her mouth shut and turning away again.

Greed raises an eyebrow.

“Your nervousness is cute, but I can’t answer you unless you ask me whatever the hell’s got you so worked up.”

Her gray eyes flash. He’s struck a nerve.

“I cannot trust the word of a monster.” She turns away, as if to take flight into the trees and hide again.

“That’s pretty insulting.” Greed offers her what he considers a welcoming smile. “I  _ never  _ lie, girl.”

She stops short. After a few moments, the masked girl turns back to him. Greed is a little surprised to see her eyes glittering with emotion.

“Can the young lord hear me?” she asks, quickly, recklessly.

Ling presses against the inside of his skull, desperate to speak, but Greed answers for them. “Yeah, he can. He’s quite the hassle sometimes, too.”

Lanfan takes a shuddering breath.

“ _ Why _ did he. . . give you control?”

A part of him is  _ very  _ impressed with her question--isn’t she supposed to be the silent, loyal subject? Questioning her master. . . but the bigger part of his attention, thanks to his habit, goes to something else.

“Give me?” Greed stretched his lips into a fierce grin, revealing his unusually sharp canines. “People don’t give me anything. I  _ take _ .”

“The young lord does not allow precious things to be taken from him,” she shot back.

He lowers his eyes to where her automail arm is shaking, ever so slightly. Her other arm leaps up and clasps it tightly, stilling the motion.

“I assume you know from experience,  _ precious _ ?”

He can tell she’s blushing, at least a bit, from the way she subtly leans backwards and ducks her head.

“The Prince protects what is his,” she repeats.

“Right.” He draws it out, allowing a hint of mockery to his voice. “Looks like he’s been doing a great job.”

Her head shoots up and the blush is gone, replaced with a look of intensity. “Do  _ not  _ insult the young lord.”

“Am I wrong?”

She simply glares. Ling thrashes furiously, trying to speak, but there’s nothing he can do. Greed wonders if a similar conversation has taken place before, between the kid and the girl. Prince sure feels guilty about a lot of shit, if the pit in Greed’s stomach means anything.

“You stay pretty quiet, from what I can tell.” he shrugs. “Why don’t you just say what you’re thinking for once? There’s obviously a lot you want to tell me, from the look of it. C’mon, let it out.”

He’s bluffing, for once. Greed can’t tell what that expression of hers means--from the frustrated emotions Ling’s exuding in waves, this is when she shuts down and he can’t get any more out of her. 

But Ling isn’t Greed. Ling doesn’t push it.

_ Greed  _ gets what he wants.

“I want to hear it,” he says again. “Don’t you have any complaints? Let it--”

“You have poisoned the prince’s body with your twisted presence.” Lanfan’s fists are clenched, and her face is turned away from him again--probably so he can’t read her expression anymore. “He has only allowed you to enter him because you hold a philosopher’s stone, or he would  _ never  _ disgrace himself with so much as a glance at you. I trust his decision, but I  _ despise  _ you.”

Greed blinked. "Fair enough. But, trust me, the prince and I get along just fine."

She looked at him, then away into the darkness of the forest. A cool breeze blew by, bringing with it the clear, woody scent of the trees and a couple of fallen leaves.

“I thought you said you never lied.”

He cocked his head. “Maybe you’ll have to wait for his turn, so he can back me up.”

_ We aren’t friends.  _ Ling spits.

_ Sure we are.  _ This wasn’t a lie; Ling already spoke to him with familiarity, and Greed trusted him a  _ bit  _ more than he was willing to let on. The kid was just feeling a little. . .  _ negative  _ at the moment. 

Best buddies.

“He will  _ not _ . The prince would never be friendly with--”

“Maybe you don’t know everything about your prince. Ever think of that?” Her constant reiterating is getting a bit tiresome. “Pretty loyal, huh?”

_That_ shuts her up. She lowers her shoulders and stares him defiantly in the face, letting her silence speak for her.

_ Leave her alone, _ Ling growls.

_ I do what I want, _ Greed replies. And right now he wanted that mask off.

He reaches, right as she leaps backwards, eluding his grasp like smoke. 

“Oh, come on.” he wheedles. “Be a good sport. I haven’t gotten to see your face yet, and I’m  _ interested _ .”

“Foul thing,” her voice hissed from the branches above. Greed looks up and her eyes were there, shining about ten feet over his head. Her skills are something else, he has to admit. “You should not be  _ interested  _ in what is not yours.”

Of course, he can’t let that one slide.

“But I already told you. I’m Greed, aren’t I? That means I want it all, everything. Money, power. . .” He smiles, slowly. “Women.”

_ She’s  _ not  _ yours.  _ Ling says in a low voice.

“I will never be yours.”

This is said without emotion, and unlike her other replies, it feels more like a statement of fact than anything else.

“Sure? It’s not like you’d get nothing out of it, right?” Greed leans back against the tree trunk and slides down, crossing his legs once seated. “I’ve got a lot of experience.”

She doesn’t reply. But Ling can read her silences, and Ling’s body warms despite itself.

_ Teenagers _ .

“What? You don’t like hearing this out of your young lord’s mouth? Or. . .” He grins savagely.  “You like it  _ too  _ much, is that it?”

“Stay away from me.” Her voice only shakes a little.

_She’s loyal, all right._ Greed turns inward, where Ling sits, identical to Greed’s current position. The only difference is his face, which is severely disgruntled.

_ She’s  _ mine.

“He said you’re  _ his _ .” Greed tattles at once, raising his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. “Isn’t that right, kid?”

Ling colors immediately, and scowls even deeper.

The homunculus opens his eyes to see her standing three feet away. Her body language is even more closed than before--hostile, even.

“Well, hello again,” he says, unfazed and unmoving. “Want to take off your mask now, or should I root through the prince’s memories? I get what I want, Precious.”

She rips off her mask and clenches it tightly in her hand. She glares.

Greed raises himself up, slowly, and walks closer. Lanfan, to his surprise, doesn’t move. His eyes stay locked on hers as he leans in. Her breath catches, strands of her jet black hair fall over her eyes, and her cheeks fill with pink.

“Huh. Not bad.”

After a second (in which their breaths intermingle and she inhales shakily and he’s so  _ aware  _ of her he feels it in every ounce of this body) he steps back, giving her space again. Ling’s eyes see her face soften with surprise before it hardens once more, but her eyes hold an ounce of regret.

“You don’t have much fun, Precious, do you?”

It’s the third time he’s called her by that name, but this time, her mask is off and Greed can fully see her eyes widen and her cheeks flush as she pulls her collar up and refuses to meet his eyes. She’s so used to the mask she’s an open book without it.

Ling’s chest clenches, and Greed can tell his body has done this many times.

_ Stop teasing her. _

_ Hypocrite, _ is all he deigns to reply, still watching her.  _ Pay attention, idiot, she’s doing it for  _ you.

“I’m not the prince,” Greed says, raising his hand, slowly, so she can easily move if she wants to.

To his delight, she doesn’t. When his hand reaches her cheek, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“But we both want the same thing.”

“Lies,” she murmurs, stiffening rather than softening at his touch.

“Not a lie, I already said. All I’m saying is, whatever you aren’t allowed to do with the kid doesn’t apply to  _ me _ .”

“You are revolting.” She barely opens her lips, voice low and damn it, it  _ does  _ things to him.

“Then move away, Precious.”

She doesn’t. Perhaps she’s allowing herself a respite of sorts--Ling’s body never goes this far ( _ though it wants to, it obviously aches to _ ) and she hasn’t the willpower, after everything, to slip away again.

“See, you like it.” His hand trails down her face and falls to his side. She exhales.

“Stay away from me.”

“If that’s what you want.”

He can see her face falter, eyes harden with emotion. She bites her lip.

“Yes.”

“All right.” Greed steps back fully, satiated for the moment. There’s not much else he can do with her without Ling breaking loose--from the moment he touched her face Greed had to take full hold, with rapt focus, because the prince began fighting tooth and nail for his hand.

To remove it or to feel what he never had before?

Greed offers the question to Ling, who ignores it in favor of watching Lan Fan disappear again. She’s going to stay there, out of sight now, but he’s more aware than he was before--perhaps he’s stolen a mite of Ling’s chi skills somehow.

“Talk to you later, Precious,” he calls, nearly giddy. This body is pretty reactive to her, and he’s feeling a kind of sweet excitement he’d forgotten, or never experienced. He might be able to touch her more ( _ her hand? her waist? _ ) if he’s patient. He’ll wait a while before calling her down for a quick meal. Maybe he can steal some food from the next farm they passed. . .

_ Lan Fan is my most loyal and skilled aide _ , Ling spits, interrupting his line of thought.  _ Keep your desires in check. Don’t we have  _ work  _ to do or something? _

_ I mean, could be  _ your  _ emotions.  _ Greed raises his arms in a wide shrug. _ It’s  _ your  _ body reacting, after all, right? _

_ Shut up. _ Ling replies through gritted teeth.

“S’like I said. You’re a lot like me, kid. . . you want more than you can handle.”

The prince is sullenly silent.

Greed chuckles as he sets off again. Not too far behind, the girl leaps and runs along the treetops and branches in the dark, like a spirit of the forest.

Not too far to go, now. Just a bit longer.

**Author's Note:**

> yeahhh haha this was messy. hope you liked it anyway, there's a real lack of greedfan fanfics in this world and i adore what their relationship could be-- he's so BLUNT and she is such a serial avoider there's no way they wouldn't clash (besides the, uh, obvious reasons). but i genuinely think greed is exactly what ling needs to recognize his own feelings and all that. plus greed has no filter and voices every ounce of tension he can sense. recipe for disaster lmao. also, folks, don't make my mistakes--WRITING IN PRESENT TENSE IS NOT WORTH THE RIDICULOUS HASSLE DON'T BE A FOOL


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